10 nanometres

Semiconductor manufacturing processes
10 µm — 1971 3 µm — 1975 1.5 µm — 1982 1 µm — 1985 800 nm (.80 µm) — 1989 600 nm (.60 µm) — 1994 350 nm (.35 µm) — 1995 250 nm (.25 µm) — 1998 180 nm (.18 µm) — 1999 130 nm (.13 µm) — 2000 90 nm — 2002 65 nm — 2006 45 nm — 2008 32 nm — 2010 22 nm — 2011 16 nm — approx. 2013 11 nm — approx. 2015
Half-nodes

To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10⁻⁸ and 10⁻⁷ metres (10 nanometres and 100 nanometres).

10 nm = 10 nanometres = 10⁻⁸ metres
10 nm — lower size of tobacco smoke^[2]
10 nm Shortest Extreme Ultraviolet wavelength or longest X-ray wavelength^[3]
11 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell speculated to be manufactured in 2015.
16 nm — technology is projected to be reached by semiconductor companies in the 2013 timeframe
18 nm — diameter of tobacco mosaic virus^[4] (Generally, viruses range in size from 20 nm to 450 nm.)
20 nm — width of bacterial flagellum^[5]
20 nm to 80 nm — thickness of cell wall in Gram-positive bacteria^[6]
22 nm — Smallest feature size of production microprocessors in September 2009^[7]
22 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell expected to be manufactured at around the 2011–2011 time frame.
30 nm — lower size of cooking oil smoke^[2]
32 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2009–2010 time frame.
45 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2007–2008 time frame.
50 nm — upper size for airborne virus particles^[2]
50 nm — flying height of the head of a hard disk^[8]
65 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2005–2006 time frame.
90 nm — the average half-pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2002–2003 time frame.
100 nm — larger than 90% of the particles of wood smoke (ranges from 7 to 3000 nanometres)^[2]

Notes

^ Graham T. Smith (2002). Industrial metrology. Springer. pp. 253. ISBN 1852335076.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Annis, Patty J. October 1991. Kansas State University. Fine Particle POLLUTION. Figure 1. (tobacco smoke: 10 to 1000 nm; virus particles: 3 to 50 nm; bacteria: 30 to 30000 nm; cooking oil smoke: 30 to 30000 nm; wood smoke: 7 to 3000 nm)
^ Introduction to the Electromagnetic Spectrum and Spectroscopy
^ Stryer, Lubert (1988). Biochemistry. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-1843-X.
^ Kojima S, Blair D (2004). "The bacterial flagellar motor: structure and function of a complex molecular machine". Int Rev Cytol. International Review of Cytology 233: 93–134. doi:10.1016/S0074-7696(04)33003-2. ISBN 978-0-12-364637-8. PMID 15037363.
^ Microbiology Text.com
^ http://www.physorg.com/news172852816.html accessed 2009.09.21
^ help with PCs web site